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Proton Beam Facilities in the US... First-hand experiences?
Hello Yananow Community,
I am considering PBT as a treatment option for recently diagnosed PCa [PSA=8.6, GS=4+3, T2a].
I've looked into a couple of PBT providers in the US, and they all seem to use the same basic protocol and technique, although M.D. Anderson in Houston offers an option they call "pencil beam scanning" vs scattered-beam dosing.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone in the community who has first-hand experience with PBT here in the US.
Things like: Pre-treatment competency, treatment planning experience, and of course your thoughts on the outcome.
Re: Proton Beam Facilities in the US... First-hand experiences?
G'day N. Smith,
I'm guessing you haven't spent too much time on the Yana site!!
If you go here PROTON BEAM THERAPY you will find a number of links about PBT including one to the Index where the stories of more than 60 men who chose PBT are listed. That link is HERE
If you go to the site Search Engine and enter Proton Beam Therapy you might even find the experiences of men who were thinking of PBT and decided against it.
Good luck - there's a lot of information on the site that is worth reading
Re: Proton Beam Facilities in the US... First-hand experiences?
I run a Yahoo Health roup with more than 200 members representing "graduates" of all but the two newest proton centers in the U. S. See above or go here:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/protoninfo/
Join and ask your question there. I will be watching for your note of application. All necessary is a first name or "handle"; your PSA and Gleason Score, age and where you are located. Just put that info in your note when applying.
My story and many of our members stories are on Terry's YANA Mentor Experiences under the Proton Beam listing.
Re: Proton Beam Facilities in the US... First-hand experiences?
Hello N,
As Terry mentioned there several men, including myself, on this site dicussing their experiences with PBT. I recently finished my treatment at Loma Linda and am doing just fine. That's why I choose this method of treating my PCa (at diagnosis PSA = 2.2 with a Gleason of 6). It has the least amount of side effects and a good success rate. You can also get the perspective of many others by going to the BOB Website. This is a group of almost 5000 men mostly treated at LL. LL is the most popular place to go because they have a focused program for treating PCa. They do not use the gold seed implant method for registering the prostrate, rather they use the rectal balloon. Therefore the name of the organization, Brotherhood of the Balloon (BOB). The course of treatment is the standard 9 weeks and they deliver 81 Gray of radiation to the treatment site over the 9 weeks.
Hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail directly if you have other questions.
